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Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Tue May 14, 2013 6:08 pm

She's been told there's a very high risk of her contracting breast cancer, and with the fact that her mother died at 56 of the dread-disease, 38 year old Angie has made a decision (and actually gone through with it) to have her breasts surgically removed. She did this with her children in mind which is pretty damn selfless I have to say.

It looks like some kind of implants will be utilized at some point, but even so, this is a mighty big step for a young woman to make. The story is at the link below.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Tue May 14, 2013 8:18 pm

I think its amazing she managed to have this done as far back as February and the media got no wind of it......

A brave decision for a Woman who's seen as such a sex symbol....a very selfless act, but her priorities as a Mother prioritise above all else.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Tue May 14, 2013 9:11 pm

debtd1 wrote:I think its amazing she managed to have this done as far back as February and the media got no wind of it......

A brave decision for a Woman who's seen as such a sex symbol....a very selfless act, but her priorities as a Mother prioritise above all else.

I was going to post something similar. Spot on.

A very brave lady and it says an awful lot about her. Huge admiration and respect for her in making such a massive and hard decision.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Tue May 14, 2013 10:49 pm

I only have admiration for her bravery under such circumstances. I'm sure it wasn't a decision taken easily, regardless of her being someone with a high risk of developing cancer. It's certain that her profile will raise awareness of early detection, whilst it just goes to show that, even the most famous of people can have their privacy in spite of today's media and social networking.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Tue May 14, 2013 11:02 pm

A very brave and selfless lady.

Bless her heart.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Tue May 14, 2013 11:14 pm

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 1:26 am

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 1:49 am

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

She clearly didn't want to play the waiting game -- and I don't think that's something anyone can blame her for.

Seems like a bold decision that will raise awareness. She did it for more than just herself or her children.

She's taken her barbs (sadly, women in all tiers of life get their share of them in this patriarchal, misogynistic world), but now, maybe people will think twice about her as a flesh-and-blood person, recognize the grace and intelligence she possesses -- and realize the need to cultivate such things in themselves.

EDIT: *Some* people.

Last edited by Cryogenic on Thu May 16, 2013 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 2:32 am

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

I would do it in a heartbeat.

LIFE cannot be replaced by implants, padding, or anything else.

Good for her!

rjm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 4:12 am

rjm wrote:

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

I would do it in a heartbeat.

LIFE cannot be replaced by implants, padding, or anything else.

Good for her!

rjm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

You and me both, GF.

People really should get over defining their self-worth by physical characteristics.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 4:20 am

Cryogenic wrote:

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

She clearly didn't want to play the waiting game -- and I don't think that's something anyone can blame her for.

Seems like a bold decision that will raise awareness. She did it for more than just herself or her children.

She's taken her barbs (sadly, women in all tiers of life get their share of them in this patriarchal, misogynistic world), but now, maybe people will think twice about her as a flesh-and-blood person, recognize the grace and intelligence she possesses -- and realize the need to cultivate such things in themselves.

Cryo, all due respect as I have been enjoying your posts very much. But, I DO think she did it solely for her children, her husband, and herself. Whatever "message" she has sent by this radical course of action is a mere by-product of this very personal decision.

Unfortunately, most women can't afford the kind of medical/genetic screening Angelina used to make her radical decision. Perhaps that is the more important issue.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 11:42 am

Yes. One vital thing is that this is expensive; how many will have coverage?

In 2003, I had major surgery which now makes most reproductive cancers impossible. (Not the chests; still got the OEM models.) And with my current crummy insurance, I wonder if it would have been possible. Would I have been forced to suffer? Scary thought.

rjm (we must remember that many posters are not from the States, so these matters are not immediately apparent)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 1:13 pm

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

OK, put it another way. If somebody said to you that every time you crossed a particular road near your house there was an 87% chance you would get knocked down and killed, I think it's fairly safe to say that you'd find a different route to get where you wanted to go.

If you tell me you still don't get it, I am going to be forced to ask you whether or not you are an idiot.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 1:32 pm

Brave woman,good on her

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 7:19 pm

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

OK, put it another way. If somebody said to you that every time you crossed a particular road near your house there was an 87% chance you would get knocked down and killed, I think it's fairly safe to say that you'd find a different route to get where you wanted to go.

If you tell me you still don't get it, I am going to be forced to ask you whether or not you are an idiot.

It is very rude of you to say that i'm an idiot and i don't get it because i wouldn't do what Angelina Jolie did unless i actually had cancer and there wasn't another way.

You'll find a lot of people wouldn't do what Angelina Jolie did unless they absolutely had to and they agree with me.

I've already explained why and if you don't get that then maybe you are the idiot.

My point is valid and it is completely stupid and utter ridiculous for you to act that way.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 8:07 pm

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

Yep. You are an idiot!

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 8:41 pm

memfisking wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

Yep. You are an idiot!

Memfisking, grow up and stop being a jerk for once in your life.

I don't expect everyone on this board to agree with my point of view but everyone should be respectful of others even if they have a different opinion.

I know for a fact that a lot of people think Memphisking is an idiot and that he never contributes anything positive to this board but i've always defended him.

I guess that might be too much to ask of Memfisking and The Pirate because they don't seem to have the intelligence and they don't seem to be articulate enough to debate the issue without childish name calling.

This is one thing i hate about FECC is that if you have a difference of opinion someone will come along and insult you.

A lot of people on FECC and Memfisking included (if that's even his real name) have a very narrow view of everything.

Last edited by brian on Thu May 16, 2013 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 8:47 pm

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

OK, put it another way. If somebody said to you that every time you crossed a particular road near your house there was an 87% chance you would get knocked down and killed, I think it's fairly safe to say that you'd find a different route to get where you wanted to go.

If you tell me you still don't get it, I am going to be forced to ask you whether or not you are an idiot.

It is very rude of you to say that i'm an idiot and i don't get it because i wouldn't do what Angelina Jolie did unless i actually had cancer and there wasn't another way.

You'll find a lot of people wouldn't do what Angelina Jolie did unless they absolutely had to and they agree with me.

I've already explained why and if you don't get that then maybe you are the idiot.

My point is valid and it is completely stupid and utter ridiculous for you to act that way.

Naw, you probably wouldn't do it. Your name is "Brian," not "Brianna."

Seriously, some men with family histories have gone through the process, removing all glandular tissue from their breast area. Quincy Jones had a benign lump in the 1980s, and I think he had it taken care of.

But it, by far, affects females rather than males because there's considerably more real estate, and no man is ever going to suggest to me how to save /protect my life, or NOT choose to save it. No man. And, "no, man."

You are thinking of it in terms of pro-active male castration, which I think is unheard-of. On the other hand, if I was a guy with a strong family history of testicular cancer, I wouldn't rule anything out. Honestly, IF that were an option (nowadays there are better alternatives, even post-diagnosis), I wouldn't rule anything out, even if I was a guy and facing that. Body parts are just that: parts; if your significant other sees you as a body part, that's a problem. A worse problem is seeing oneself that way.

A dear friend of mine is fighting a reproductive cancer, and I lost both my grandmother and a close family friend (since before I was born!) to breast cancer. The former was 62, while the friend was just past 50, and it was in 2007. She was just several years older than me, and her dad was a childhood friend of my uncles: a terrible loss.

Cancer is to be avoided. Period.

rjm

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Wed May 15, 2013 8:55 pm

RJM, you still don't fully understand my point.

I am not thinking in terms of male castration.

By the way i'm not knocking Angelina Jolie she has done want she thinks is best for her.

Anyone else doing that i respect that.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Thu May 16, 2013 12:55 am

MaryAnn wrote:Cryo, all due respect as I have been enjoying your posts very much. But, I DO think she did it solely for her children, her husband, and herself. Whatever "message" she has sent by this radical course of action is a mere by-product of this very personal decision.

Yes, that's a fair point.

First and foremost, we tend to do things for ourselves, then our friends and family, then our wider community, and rarely, our country, then other countries of the world (chiefly, "third world"; even the very label suggests a cognitive dissonance toward suffering), and finally, rarest of all, the planet on which we all live (and are rapidly defacing and destroying -- because this is lowest on our list of concerns).

Yet, because Angelina Jolie is so famous, and revered for -- we have to be honest about this; and AJ can surely be under no delusions -- her image/looks, coming clean about this will, hopefully, yield some net positive effect.

Unfortunately, most women can't afford the kind of medical/genetic screening Angelina used to make her radical decision. Perhaps that is the more important issue.

That is very true. Cancer screenings and treatments are still very expensive and nowhere near as widely available, per capita, as they should be. (And then, a quite different but equally serious matter, there are all the social stigmas that surround diagnosis and seeking treatment). It's a disgrace, in truth, that governments spend so much on defence, and so little on housing, education, and health. And that multi-national companies and interests are able to influence policy -- and negatively impact the lives of so many; and wreck the ecology -- as much as they do.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Thu May 16, 2013 1:06 am

I think its such a brave thing that she has done, Ive heard of many women doing the same thing with such a high risk.

She reminds me so much of my middle daughter so it makes me shudder thinking that could be one of my girls in that position.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Thu May 16, 2013 1:27 am

brian wrote:

memfisking wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

Yep. You are an idiot!

Mempisking, grow up and stop being a jerk for once in your life.

I don't expect everyone on this board to agree with my point of view but everyone should be respectful of others even if they have a different opinion.

I know for a fact that a lot of people think Memphisking is an idiot and that he never contributes anything positive to this board but i've always defended him.

I guess that might be too much to ask of Memphisking and The Pirate because they don't seem to have the intelligence and they don't seem to be articulate enough to debate the issue without childish name calling.

This is one thing i hate about FECC is that if you have a difference of opinion someone will come along and insult you.

A lot of people on FECC and Memphiking included (if that's even his real name) have a very narrow view of everything.

brian, can I just say...?

I don't think you're a bad guy, but what you've done is unconsciously advance a very shallow/bodily/materialistic conception of woman-hood and femininity.

You're saying, in large part, that a woman's worth is contained in, or in some way mediated by, her physical appearance, and that her personality, behaviour, beliefs, ethics, etc., are all secondary.

This is dehumanizing; and hence, wrong. No-one should be defined by their appearance, their body parts, their biological sex, ethnicity, or any part of their genetic code, where they were born, what they eat, what they like/dislike, what their favourite colour is, etc.

Take another look and you'll realize you were doing this. It's easy to do (we're all guilty of it at times). Evaluations based on appearance have evolutionary origins, are codified in religious law (which, even in western, secular nations, has shaped legislature and continues to influence social discourse), and are aggressively encouraged by consumer interests which require people to believe they need a certain product in order to be "a man" or attract one. It's not sex that sells; but sexual brainwashing, objectification, and exploitation.

When people learn to live like human beings, and not binary-thinking, pre-programmed fembots or macho cyborgs (see?), then we'll have some legitimate progress in the world; and some chance of surviving the storms to come.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Thu May 16, 2013 2:21 am

Cryogenic wrote:

brian wrote:

memfisking wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

Yep. You are an idiot!

Mempisking, grow up and stop being a jerk for once in your life.

I don't expect everyone on this board to agree with my point of view but everyone should be respectful of others even if they have a different opinion.

I know for a fact that a lot of people think Memphisking is an idiot and that he never contributes anything positive to this board but i've always defended him.

I guess that might be too much to ask of Memphisking and The Pirate because they don't seem to have the intelligence and they don't seem to be articulate enough to debate the issue without childish name calling.

This is one thing i hate about FECC is that if you have a difference of opinion someone will come along and insult you.

A lot of people on FECC and Memphiking included (if that's even his real name) have a very narrow view of everything.

brian, can I just say...?

I don't think you're a bad guy, but what you've done is unconsciously advance a very shallow/bodily/materialistic conception of woman-hood and femininity.

You're saying, in large part, that a woman's worth is contained in, or in some way mediated by, her physical appearance, and that her personality, behaviour, beliefs, ethics, etc., are all secondary.

This is dehumanizing; and hence, wrong. No-one should be defined by their appearance, their body parts, their biological sex, ethnicity, or any part of their genetic code, where they were born, what they eat, what they like/dislike, what their favourite colour is, etc.

Take another look and you'll realize you were doing this. It's easy to do (we're all guilty of it at times). Evaluations based on appearance have evolutionary origins, are codified in religious law (which, even in western, secular nations, has shaped legislature and continues to influence social discourse), and are aggressively encouraged by consumer interests which require people to believe they need a certain product in order to be "a man" or attract one. It's not sex that sells; but sexual brainwashing, objectification, and exploitation.

When people learn to live like human beings, and not binary-thinking, pre-programmed fembots or macho cyborgs (see?), then we'll have some legitimate progress in the world; and some chance of surviving the storms to come.

That's not why i said what i said.

I think some are assuming i'm forming my opinion based on the physical appearance of a woman but i'm not and then they are putting words in my mouth.

My opinion on the matter has nothing do with that.

Memphisking is just a rude shallow jerk that says what he says without a logical reason and he is idiot for doing so.

He wasn't standing up for feminism.

I wasn't defining Angelina Jolie or anyone by their physical appearance.

Re: Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy

Thu May 16, 2013 2:24 am

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:

The Pirate wrote:

brian wrote:It's weird because women get a double mastectomy after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer not when they don't have it.

Now watch Angelina Jolie never get cancer.

She had it to prevent her getting cancer. She carries a gene which meant that she had an 87% chance of getting it, but by having the operations she's reduced that risk to only 5%.

Still nothing is certain and it seems premature to have your breasts removed when you don't know if you'll ever get it or not.

I don't care what Angelina Jolie does and she may be brave for having it done but i would have waited if it were me.

OK, put it another way. If somebody said to you that every time you crossed a particular road near your house there was an 87% chance you would get knocked down and killed, I think it's fairly safe to say that you'd find a different route to get where you wanted to go.

If you tell me you still don't get it, I am going to be forced to ask you whether or not you are an idiot.

Indeed. Seems to be a no-brainer to me, as well, and I would suggest anyone close to me do the same thing that she did facing the same odds.